Colm O'Gorman: How to make my quick Thai beef salad with glass noodles
The first time I tasted a Thai beef salad was in Bangkok more than twenty years ago. I was there on holiday with my now-husband, our first trip away together. It was our first night in Thailand and we ate in a market in the middle of the city. It was amazing. I remember being stunned by the complexity of the flavours of that salad and then blown away by the heat. We sat there with tears running down our cheeks because the salad was so spicy, but it was so delicious we could not stop eating it. It was the beginning of my love affair with Thai food and a memory I will never forget.
That salad used bird's eye chillies, which are very hot indeed. In this recipe, I use regular red chillies but leave the seeds and pith in for a bit more heat. If you want the full experience, you can of course use birds eye chillies which are easily available these days. You can use regular caster sugar in this recipe if you wish, but I love the slightly caramel flavour of coconut sugar. This is also widely available these days and most supermarkets stock it. Use both the leaves and stems of fresh coriander for this recipe. The stalks are full of flavour, and it is a real shame to waste them.
